"Be careful, the shadow is making itself stronger." Teddie said nervously.
"Making itself stronger, that's it." Chie said suddenly. "Persona, Tarunda."
The moment Chie said that, a dark orange glow appeared around the shadow before fading.
"Nice thinking Chie, let's take him down partner." Yosuke said with a grin.
"RIght, Izanagi." Yu said as an orange glow appeared around Yosuke. "Take that shadow down Yosuke."
"I was planning on it, let's do this Jiraiya." Yosuke said as his persona appeared and a gust of wind slammed the shadow into the wall.
"Be careful, this shadow is extremely dangerous." Yu said. "There's no telling what it might try now."
The moment Yu said that, the shadow's lance began glowing purple.
"Oh man, that doesn't look good." Yosuke said nervously.
Suddenly the shadow turned towards Chie and tried to attack her with its lance only to miss.
"That was a close one." Yu said.
"Yeah, but now let's take this shadow down." Chie said.
"Right behind you Chie." Yosuke said with a grin before the three persona users ran towards the shadow and attacked it repeatedly.
"You were so close, a little more and this shadow is history." Teddie said excitedly.
"No problem, Tomoe." Chie said as her persona appeared and created a small block of ice around the shadow's arm before the shadow disappeared leaving behind a key made out of glass.
"What the, why did it drop this?" Yosuke asked picking up the key. "Wait a second, do you think this is what unlocks the doors in this castle?"
"It's worth a try, let's head to one of the other doors." Yu.
"Hey, we're not getting teleported anymore. Beating that shadow must have made that stop." Chie said.
"That makes things a lot easier." Yosuke said walking up to one of the locked doors. "Well, here goes nothing."
With those words Yosuke put the key into the lock and tried to open the door.
"The stairs, you mean they were here the whole time?" Chie asked in annoyance. "Oh now I'm mad."
"Don't worry Chie, we'll make sure Yukiko is safe." Yosuke said. "Right partner?"
"Yeah, Yosuke's right Chie." Yu said. "Teddie, how close are we to Yukiko?"
"I definitely smell someone nearby." Teddie said. "I don't know how much farther exactly, but we're getting closer."
"Then what are we waiting for, come on let's get going." Chie said emphatically.
The moment Chie said that, a second golden shadow ran past them.
"What the, another one?" Yosuke asked. "Quick after it."
"Tomoe." Chie said quickly.
As Tomoe appeared, the ground in front of the golden shadow froze and it slipped.
"Good thinking Chie." Yu said while Yosuke jumped over the shadow and threw one of his kunai at it pinning it to the ground.
"Nice, now maybe we can figure out what's so special about these gold shadows." Chie said just before the shadow turned into red smoke and disappeared. "What the, how did that happen?"
"I don't know, but we can worry about that later." Yosuke said. "They heard us."
"So do we fight or run?" Chie asked.
"We can't waste our strength on them, we need to get to Yukiko." Yu said.
"Right, let's get moving." Yosuke said before they started running from the shadows.
"Look up ahead, which way do we go?" Chie asked.
"You and I will try the right, Yosuke and Ted head left." Yu said quickly.
"Right, let's go Teddie." Yosuke said.
"I'm right behind you Yosuke." Teddie said before the four of them split up a second time.
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"Tomoe, Bufu." Chie said quickly as another shadow appeared in front of her and Yu. "Man, I hope Yosuke and Teddie are having an easier time than we are."
"So do I, but right now what we need to do is try and find the stairs." Yu said slicing a shadow in half. "Angel, Hama."
"Hey do you mind if I ask you something Yu?" Chie asked suddenly.
"What's on your mind Chie?" Yu asked.
"Well its just I feel guilty, we can do so much to save people but even though we knew Saki-sempai was in this world we didn't do anything to help her." Chie said. "It's partially our fault that she died." (1)
"We couldn't have done anything back then, the important thing is we make sure nobody else dies." Yu said.
"I guess so, I just feel like we should have done something." Chie said. "Yosuke probably thinks the same thing."
"Maybe you should talk to him about that once we rescue Yukiko, I have a feeling he should hear that." Yu said.
"Yeah, you're right." Chie said just before Yosuke and Teddie appeared around the corner.
"Yu open that door quick." Yosuke said nervously.
"Shadows are right behind us." Teddie said in fear.
The moment Teddie said that, four shadows identical to the one that had the key appeared behind him.
"Oh man hurry up Teddie." Chie said before the four of them ran up the stairs.
"Huh, wow I smell somebody really close. She's right above us right now." Teddie said.
"Right, one more floor and we'll be able to rescue Yukiko-san." Yosuke said. "Let's make sure we get her out safely right Chie?"
"Yeah, we won't let anything bad happen to Yukiko." Chie said with a grin. "Come on you guys, full speed ahead."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Yu said calmly.
"Why not, we need to rescue Yukiko before her shadow tries to kill her. Did you forget what almost happened to me and Yosuke?" Chie asked.
"Chie running ahead like that is a bad idea." Yu said calmly.
"We need to do something, Yukiko is in danger." Chie said as a shadow appeared next to her. "Tomoe, Bufu."
"Jiraiya, Garu." Yosuke said as the shadow was destroyed.
"Chie, the stairs are right here." Yu said standing next to an open door.
"Oh, I guess I got a little ahead of myself didn't I?" Chie asked.
"It's alright, you want to save Yukiko-san, and so do we." Yosuke said. "So you know what, that's exactly what we're going to do."
"RIght, let's go." Yu said calmly.
(The investigation team has reached the top floor of Yukiko's castle, and is prepared to rescue her. Next chapter the battle with Shadow Yukiko will begin. As always any reviews or critique is appreciated.)
(1) (Chie feels that since they saw Saki Konishi on the midnight channel and were in the TV world when she died they could have done something to help her.)